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Sid Meiers Civilization IV Beyond the Sword Review (continued)
More User Submitted Sid Meiers Civilization IV Beyond the Sword Reviews
Date: 2008-08-01
Lots of New Details and Eye Candy. Little gain in playability. Still Good
`Beyond the Sword' is the second upgrade to Firaxis' Games' title, `Sid Meier's Civilization IV', easily one of the top two or three most popular games, let alone strategy games, of all time on the PC. My impression is that the popular reaction to this upgrade is far more positive than to the first upgrade, named `Warriors'. And, it is quite true that this upgrade has much more to offer than `Warriors', but true to an upgrade rather than a `Civilization V', everything stays within the basic framework of the original game. But, Since `Civilization IV' was such a great advance over `Civilization III', this upgrade doesn't have to do a lot to sustain our interest. Should you have any doubts up to this point, I must assure you I am an avid `Civilization' fan, and it is virtually the only PC game I play, and I have been playing it since the release of `Civilization II'.
The first change one sees is in the graphics which make up the world, its buildings, and the actors in this world. The art in general and the color and animation in particular are all notably richer. For ancient units, the same unit from different civilizations will be dressed differently, and this is not limited to the civilization specific units. Egyptian workers have the typical ancient Egyptian headgear, apron, and bare chest, while the northern Europeans are appropriately bundled up for the cooler weather. The landscape art is also seems much richer, especially when you zoom in.
The biggest change to game play is the addition of corporations, which are developed and expanded with almost exactly the same mechanics as the game's religions. In fact, I'm sure they used the same code, but changed the names and the art. I have a sense that this addition, especially at lower difficulties, is not a great improvement. Creating a corporation requires the generation of an appropriate great person, and by the time you earn the Corporation advance, great people require so many points they are few and far between, not like the salad days of the ancient era. One `made up' objective I often try to accomplish is to found all the game's religions. And, with a little luck in finding an early settler in a village, this is quite doable at lower difficulties. On the other hand, I have yet to be able to create more than two out of the eight corporations. Another problem of their showing up late in the game is that they contribute only a small amount to money or culture toward winning objectives. I also miss the great graphics associated with building the world's religious centers. Why not add a feature to build corporate headquarters.
Another major change to game play is the enhanced espionage mechanics. Spies arrive much earlier and opportunities for using them are greater. And yet, I don't see them doing what I would have expected to be their greatest virtue, turning cities over to your civilization by revolt. This goes together with the fact that it is far harder to turn a city than it was in `Civ III'. There, one could conquer a good quarter to a third of an enemy's cities with culture alone, even before firing a shot. `Civ IV' may be more realistic, but not as much fun in this area.
The most welcome addition may be one of the least impressive. This is the addition of mobile artillery and blimps. One of the most dreadfully dull parts of combat between the catapult and aviation was the slow speed of siege weapons. Didn't the developers ever hear of the 19th century mobile artillery, dating back at least to Napoleon. The other side of the coin is the more realistic limitation on siege weapons. They can no longer capture cities or destroy units without assistance from infantry or cavalry.
On addition I find to be great fun are the incidents which pop up randomly now and then. They rarely add a lot to gameplay, but they certainly make the experience more enjoyable. This is a feature which could stand much enhancement to good effect.
My very favorite feature of this upgrade is the improved World Builder feature. On the one hand, this feature is literally an open opportunity to cheat until the cows come home. But, I am generally quite realistic in understanding that by custom terraforming the map and giving myself lots of free units in the beginning, I am simply not playing the game as Sid Meier intended. I am constructing my own starting and endpoints, and I simply do not always win according to my own conditions.
Most of the other additions are `more of the same'. More civilizations and more leaders in familiar civilizations, and yet, none of the new additions have made me give up my trusty Indians under Ghandi, with their souped up workers.
If you are any kind of fan of `Civilization XXX', get this upgrade and skip the `Warriors' upgrade. This has everything available in `Warriors'. If you are not a `Civilization' fan, this upgrade will not change your mind.
Date: 2008-07-23
Civilization 4 Beyond the Sword
This is a great expansion pack to Civilization 4. There are so many new features. I can not put this game down.
Date: 2008-07-01
Great expansion pack, which I'd got it in the complete edition
I got to this game a few years after it came out, but I am not at all dissapointed in the content. The only thing I wish is that I'd have bought the complete edition (which I didn't know existed), instead of buying the gold edition and this expansion pack separately.
Date: 2008-07-01
If you have a Dell, beware of this expansion pack
I was a Civ IV fan through Warlords, but when I tried installing "Beyond the Sword" on my Dell Inspiron it wrecked the whole game. When I inserted the second installation disk, the computer locked up instead of finishing the installation. When I rebooted, I discovered that I couldn't remove the incomplete "Sword" expansion -- it didn't show up in the programs to uninstall -- and I couldn't reinstall it either (whenever I put the disk in it, it tries to start playing the game and then crashes). And now I can't play the earlier Civ games either because it just crashes. Since I've lost the original Civ IV installation disk, this means that I've spent $20 for the privilege of wrecking a game on my computer. If I could give it a minus star, I would.
Date: 2008-06-27
Excellent Expansion to Civ IV
If you have Civ IV, you simply must get this massive expansion pack! For experienced Civvers this game adds a great deal of new content, in the form of mods and levels, quite a few and very ingenious. The game concepts have slightly changed as well, moving from a militaristic focus to focusing on more peaceful mods of victory, such as diplomacy and culture. One complaint that I do have is that it is now much harder to achieve a spaceship victory, as the requisite technologies are buried even further in the tech tree than before.
As an experienced Civver (played since Civ 3), I can definitely recommend this game, altho it is for the more serious strategy gamer. It's a game loaded with details and very complex, so don't expect to master this game quickly. That said, Sid Meier has put out another worthy entry in the Civ franchise, well worth your time, and your money.
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